8 GOPers back 'don't ask' repeal

Eight Republicans bucked their party in backing the repeal of the “don’t ask, don’t tell" policy, potentially risking a backlash from the conservative base while giving the historic vote a stronger bipartisan finish than many expected.

The Republican senators who voted yes on the repeal with the Democrats were Richard Burr of North Carolina, Mark Kirk of Illinois, John Ensign of Nevada, Scott Brown of Massachusetts, George Voinovich of Ohio, Lisa Murkowski of Alaska and Olympia Snowe and Susan Collins, both of Maine.

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Burr, Ensign and Kirk did not announce their support for repeal before the Saturday vote. Burr and Ensign initially sided with Republicans in a procedural vote to bring the measure to the floor; they voted for repeal on the final vote.

But while Kirk and Ensign had previously indicated they were open to voting for repeal, Burr’s vote came as a surprise even to the sponsors of the legislation. Collins, who led the charge for repeal in the Senate with Joe Lieberman of Connecticut, said she lobbied every other GOP senator who voted for repeal except for the North Carolina Republican.

“I was confident going into the vote today that we had six to seven votes. I didn't not expect eight,” said Collins. “I was delighted but surprised with the vote from Sen. Burr. I think that was a gutsy vote and I was delighted. But he was not someone who I thought to lobby on the issue.”

Burr explained his reasoning to reporters after final passage.

“It's just that we’ve had a generational change and I have vehemently objected to making a policy change of this magnitude at this time. When cloture was passed, that settled that,” Burr said. “It’s not accepted practice anywhere in our society and it only makes sense. But again, I was vehemently opposed to the timing of this.”

Another surprise was Kirk, who was just elected to the Senate. As late as Thursday, the newly elected GOP senator told reporters that he was undecided and still combing through the long report from the Joint Chiefs of Staff on the issue.

Yet, in a 400-word statement released after the vote, Kirk explained in detail why he voted to repeal the policy.

“Following their exhaustive and considered military judgment, I support the Joint Chiefs' recommendation to implement the repeal of the current policy once the battle effectiveness of the forces is certified and proper preparations are complete,” said Kirk. “The legislation before us provides our military leaders with the time they requested to change the policy.”

Known for his moderate voting record as a congressman from northern Chicago suburbs, Kirk was elected in the typically Democratic state of Illinois in November and was sworn into the Senate just three weeks ago.

But since arriving in Washington, Kirk has stood firmly by Senate Republicans. He was vocal in his opposition to the Democrat-backed $1.1 trillion omnibus spending bill, which Majority Leader Harry Reid yanked; voted against the defense authorization bill that including the repeal of ‘don’t ask, don’t tell’ and voted against the DREAM Act Saturday.

Two of the Republicans — Brown and Snowe — are up for reelection in 2012.

“The vote speaks for itself,” Brown told POLITICO, before an aide added that he had explained his position in prior published statements.

Voinovich, who is retiring at the end of this session, told reporters that he was “convinced, based on all of the experts who have looked at this, [that] this is something that should be done.”